Star Tribune
Minnesota State Trooper charged with murder, manslaughter in fatal shooting of Black motorist
Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty has charged a Minnesota state trooper with three criminal counts including murder for last summer’s fatal shooting of motorist Ricky Cobb II following a traffic stop.
Moriarty announced the decision Wednesday to charge Trooper Ryan Londregan with second-degree unintentional murder, first-degree assault, and second-degree manslaughter in the July 31 shooting of Cobb, 33, of Plymouth, in north Minneapolis after he was pulled over about 1:50 a.m. on Interstate 94 for driving without taillights. During the stop, troopers attempted to remove Cobb from the vehicle after learning that he’d been accused of violating a standing domestic order for protection out of Ramsey County.
The decision comes more than four months after the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension handed over its investigation to Moriarty.
“As with all Minnesota law enforcement officers, state troopers may only use deadly force when it is necessary to protect a person from a specific identified threat of great bodily harm or death that was reasonably likely to occur,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “That did not exist in this case…Ricky Cobb II should be alive today.”
“A critical component of the work of the Minnesota State Patrol is engaging with drivers during motor vehicle stops. This is something that State Troopers do every day, and, as a result, they receive extensive training on how to do so safely and effectively. Trooper Londregan did not follow this training,” Moriarty said. “These charges are appropriate based on the thorough investigation conducted by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and attorneys in our office. This matter is now an active criminal prosecution. Because this matter is now an active criminal prosecution, and because we take the right to a fair trial seriously, we will have no further comment at this time.”
Squad and body camera video showed three troopers attempting to order Cobb out of the vehicle. He resisted instructions and repeatedly questioned why he was being detained. Less than a minute later, troopers forced open the doors.
Ryan Londregan was partly inside Cobb’s car when he drew and fired his handgun.
Cobb’s car lurched forward, knocking down Londregan and another trooper, Brett Seide. A third trooper identified by the BCA as Garrett Erickson was also on the scene.
The BCA made clear that Cobb was not holding a gun at the time of the shooting. A firearm was recovered on the floor behind the center console of Cobb’s vehicle.
The Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office had issued a 72-hour request for agencies to pick up and hold Cobb for questioning. The alleged violation grants officers probable cause to detain Cobb. The order for protection was filed by the mother of Cobb’s young children, relatives have said.
Moriarty met with Cobb’s family to alert them of receiving the case in September and told them that she was committed to a fair decision-making process.
But Londregan’s attorney, Chris Madel, criticized Moriarty for meeting with Cobb’s family because he said it undermines the due-process rights of his client and the integrity of the investigation.
Cobb’s family called for Londregan to be fired and criminally charged. They are also planning to file a civil lawsuit after retaining civil rights attorneys Bakari Sellers, Harry Daniels and F. Clayton Tyler.
The legal team has blasted the State Patrol for those refusing to cooperate in the BCA investigation that spanned roughly seven weeks, saying that employees were sheltering Londregan.
Londregan has less than two years of law enforcement experience. He became a trooper trainee Feb. 22, 2021, and was appointed Oct. 22, 2021, according to their public employee files provided by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety
Cases of law enforcement in Minnesota fatally shooting motorists or civilians have varying timelines of investigations and charging decisions.
In 2018, former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced that he would not charged two Minneapolis police officers in the shooting death of Thurman Blevins. Freeman’s swift decision was made in about a month.
In 2017, the BCA turned over its investigation to Freeman in September regarding the July killing of Justine Ruszczyk Damond by Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor. Freeman convened a grand jury in January 2018 and didn’t announce charges against Noor until that March.
In 2016, the BCA investigated the fatal shooting of Black motorist Philando Castile for three months. It took Ramsey County Attorney John Choi fifty days to make a charging decision against St. Anthony Police Officer Jeronimo Yanez.
Cobb’s killing reignited concerns among some critics about whether the BCA is capable of conducting a truly independent inquiry into a fellow state agency.
Minnesota state troopers rarely use deadly force. The only other killing by a trooper in recent years happened in 2022 when a trooper shot Charles Bangs, 59, outside of Bowlus, Minn.
The shooting was determined to be justified because Bangs was armed with a gun and pointed it at the trooper.
This is a developing story. Stay up-to-date with the latest news at startribune.com or download our news app to receive breaking news alerts.
The Minnesota Department of Transportation closed part of a state highway Wednesday evening near Austin because of a “major hazardous materials release” in the area.
Hwy. 56 from Hayfield to Waltham, a stretch covering about five miles, was closed in both directions and drivers were directed to follow a detour to Blooming Prairie on U.S. Hwy. 218.
No information on the hazardous materials released was immediately available.
A federal judge dismissed a civil lawsuit against Minnesota state trooper Ryan Londregan in the shooting death of Ricky Cobb II during a 2023 traffic stop.
The decision is the latest development in a case that has drawn heated debate over excessive use of force by law enforcement. Criminal charges against Londregan were dismissed by Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty in June, saying the prosecution didn’t have the evidence to proceed with a case.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Nancy E. Brasel granted Londregan’s motion to dismiss the civil suit, arguing he acted reasonably when he opened fire as Cobb’s vehicle lurched forward with another state trooper partly inside.
Londregan’s attorney Chris Madelsaid Wednesday that it’s been a “long, grueling journey to justice. Ryan Londregan has finally arrived.”
On July 31, 2023, the two troopers pulled over Cobb, 33, on Interstate 94 in north Minneapolis for driving without taillights and later learned he was wanted for violating a felony domestic no-contact order. Cobb refused commands to exit the car.
With Seide partly inside the car while trying to unbuckle Cobb’s seatbelt, the car moved forward. Londregan then opened fire, hitting Cobb twice.
In her decision, Brasel said the troopers were mandated by state law to make an arrest given Cobb’s domestic no-contact order violation. She said it was objectively reasonable for Londregan to believe Seide was in immediate danger as the car moved forward on a busy highway, which would make his use of force reasonable.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Donald Trump walked down the steps of the Boeing 757 that bears his name, walked across a rain-soaked tarmac and, after twice missing the handle, climbed into the passenger seat of a white garbage truck that also carried his name.
The former president, once a reality TV star known for his showmanship, wanted to draw attention to a remark made a day earlier by his successor, Democratic President Joe Biden, that suggested Trump’s supporters were garbage. Trump has used the remark as a cudgel against his Democratic rival, Vice President Kamala Harris.
”How do you like my garbage truck?” Trump said, wearing an orange and yellow safety vest over his white dress shirt and red tie. ”This is in honor of Kamala and Joe Biden.”
Trump and other Republicans were facing pushback of their own for comments by a comedian at a weekend Trump rally who disparaged Puerto Rico as a ”floating island of garbage.” Trump then seized on a comment Biden made on a late Wednesday call that “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters.”
The president tried to clarify the comment afterward, saying he had intended to say Trump’s demonization of Latinos was unconscionable. But it was too late.
On Thursday, after arriving in Green Bay, Wisconsin, for an evening rally, Trump climbed into the garbage truck, carrying on a brief discussion with reporters while looking out the window — similar to what he did earlier this month during a photo opportunity he staged at a Pennsylvania McDonalds.
He again tried to distance himself from comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, whose joke had set off the firestorm, but Trump did not denounce it. He also said he did not need to apologize to Puerto Ricans.
”I don’t know anything about the comedian,” Trump said. ”I don’t know who he is. I’ve never seen him. I heard he made a statement, but it was a statement that he made. He’s a comedian, what can I tell you. I know nothing about him.”
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